In The Fire Of The Sun
by SteeleCratos
Summary: On the way towards the Hoenn Championships, Ash and Co. find an unconscious boy in the woods. When he awakens, he claims to be ordinary. But is he all that he seems? Can this boy help Ash and May admit their feelings to each other? Advanceshipping.
1. Rays Of Light

**Welcome all!**

**This is my first Fanfiction that I've posted on this site. However, I've been posting fanfictions for different shows and such on different sites for years. Those have all ended, so you don't have to read them (I don't think they're very good anyways). **

**Now I need to just explain a couple of short notes before I get on with the story. The story shifts between different POV's. However, I've marked them with the necessary symbol to represent when one POV ends and another begins. **

**This is also an Advanceshipping fic. This means that it's Ash/May. So if you don't like advanceshipping, then GO AWAY! I don't want any flames clogging up the reviews, so just keep it to constructive criticism for now. **

**Anyways, I've written over several chapters for this story anyways, but I will be posting the next chapter once every Monday, because my schedule is hell to live with. So unless something happens, stay tuned every Monday!**

**Now then. On with the show!**

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Chapter 1: Rays of Light

Dawn approached fast, beams of sunlight piercing the trees below its gaze. It was a particularly beautiful day, which was for certain. But as was tradition for Hoenn, and pretty much everywhere in the Pokémon World, there was new discoveries to uncover and new trails to blaze.

For 4 certain individuals, this was almost certain to come true. They were still sleeping, unaware that the day had begun. Ash Ketchum, self-proclaimed 'Best Pokémon Trainer in the World', was snoring away like a beast in his sleeping bag. It was surprising that his companions were able to sleep. Especially his best friend.

Pikachu was actually half-asleep, half his conscience asleep and the other alert. The yellow mouse had developed this technique through the repeated attempts during the night to capture him by Team Rocket. You may think that Pikachu was like any other normal Pokémon, but surprisingly enough, this wasn't the case. Pikachu was a special Pokémon, capable of many things that no one else could even think possible. How this was to be, no one knows, except possibly for Professor Oak. But that's another tale.

Beside the aspiring 15 year old boy and his Pokémon was one of his good friends Brock. The tanned 18 year old was a smart one. Due to his maturity, he knew when things should go their way or when to intervene. The wisest of the bunch, his cooking prowess was a sight to behold. Especially for his companions, who are always eager for a meal. However, his true passion was for breeding. And not that kind of breeding, you sick pervert! I mean the kind of breeding Pokémon, making them stronger and happier. This was his dream. And despite always leaving for his own errand or another, Brock has a tendency to always join Ash on his next adventure, wherever it may be.

Next on the list was the only human girl in the group. May Maple was in a deep sleep. She was currently wearing a special set of clothing used solely for sleeping. However, during the day she usually wore red and black running shoes with white bottoms, with black socks and black shorts that hugged her upper legs. Oddly enough, she had an infinite supply of a red skirt, with a white stripe running up the center of it all the way to the neck of her red blouse. Her fanny pack was green coloured, as was her bandana. Her red blouse ended at her neck, featuring a black collar similar to the red one in her previous fashion statement, although this one was folded down, appearing more formal. This new top had no sleeves, leaving her arms bare up to her gloves, which had black fingers with white palms, but with an opening on the back, which revealed fair white skin.

However, despite her fair and warm appearance, she was a complex individual. She has repeated mood swings, going from a sensitive, nice, kind, and happy person, to a raging fiend that could crush a glass with her bare hands if provoked.

And last on this ridiculous biography of sorts is Max Maple, little brother of 10 years of May. Max, however, due to his prepubescent state of life, was easier to read, albeit less understanding of the many complex situations regarding relationships of the group. However, his is more technical of life, and is therefore very smart in some situations, though he isn't really confident in his abilities as a trainer just yet.

In just a few minutes since the sun had come up, the previously dark and lightless clearing where the 4 were sleeping was suddenly illuminated with yellow light, signalling the 4 to get the hell up.

Brock was the first to rise, as was his tradition since leaving Pewter City to join Ash. His eyes were suddenly exposed to the sun's rays, blinding him. A groan escaped his lips, and he brought a hand to his face, covering his eyes while he got up from his sleeping bag. Confused at the unexpected bright light, thoughts started running through his head. The most prominent one of them all was:

_Am I dead?_

However, the Pokémon breeder was not dead. As a lone cloud had suddenly sprouted from out of nowhere, it had the strange thought of blocking out the sun for reasons that only it knew and could not be comprehensible to other that could talk to clouds (and who did? NO ONE!) As the cloud blocked out the sun, the area started to become dimmer, and Brock could finally see. He sighed with relief as he found out that he was not walking towards the light.

"Ah well. I can't die anyway. Who will feed Ash and May?" He chuckled to himself. He turned to his backpack, and fished out a pan, box of matches, and a carton of eggs. It was handy to keep some food around. Especially when you're a great deal of a distance away from the nearest town.

Brock took the materials that he had taken out, and glanced at the campfire, which was nothing more than just burnt out sticks. He placed the pan with the carton of eggs on top of it a distance away from the sticks, and got up to full height. He started looking around the clearing, looking for something that he had specifically placed near the trees for the morning. He looked North, though he didn't know he really looking that way, and finally noticed what he was looking for. It was a pile of firewood that he had conserved for breakfast.

Unfortunately for the Gym Leader, the path to the sticks was blocked by the sleeping bodies of Max, May and Ash. Brock slapped his forehead (which will from now on be known as facepalming) and proceeded to tiptoe his way towards the firewood.

----------

Meanwhile, not far from where the group was camping out, a lone figure was running through the dense forest. He was in rough shape, the spoils of trying to avoid the two crime syndicates of Hoenn from mauling you into pieces. He was tired. Very, very tired. He had been running for a day and a night, not knowing when to stop.

He finally decided to stop running, and he started to slow down to a jog. His deceleration brought him close to a huge oak tree. He finally managed to bring himself to a stop beside the tree. He placed a hand on the trunk, while leaning down; trying to recover from the ordeal he was just through. He sighed as he took off his backpack and placed it on the ground.

He brought his free hand to his waist, which was holding a set of 6 poke balls. He took out the one that was closest to him, and he tossed it onto the ground. The capsule opened, and red light suddenly shone from it. The energy that was contained in the ball suddenly sprang out, and hit the ground beside it.

The energy started to take shape. At first glance, it looked like a messed-up cat, but then it started to materialize into its full form. There wasn't much to describe it, other than that it had a red body, and thick white fur on its face, head, neck and tail. Its eyes were like big black beads, with a dot of white for pupils. As soon as it had materialized, it spouted out a red flame, which started to float around its head.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Flareon, this is no time for jokes. Help me out here. I'm dying of exhaustion. Can you stand guard while I rest?"

Flareon nodded. Of course the Pokémon understood what his friend said. The two had a very close bond, as the boy's first Pokémon was an Eevee. However, it had wanted to evolve into something better, and it stole a firestone, and therefore evolved into a Flareon, even after the boy's objections.

The boy sighed, relieved. He laid his back against the big oak tree, and slid down to the ground, after taking off his backpack. He sighed, and silently nodded off to sleep.

Flareon then walked up to his friend's feet, and turned around, sitting down. He just stared in front of him, relying on his inner instincts to help him guard the area.


	2. Sunshine

**Well what do we have here? A new chapter? **

** Well I was bored, and I decided to randomly post this. And because of this, I will now be posting a new chapter once every other day until I get through my pre-written chapters. Then new chapters will be on every Monday afterwards.**

**Now then. We have TWO dreams here! Beat that! **

** Enjoy! **

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** Chapter 2: Sunshine**

_Ash was standing on a grassy field, in a place that he didn't even recognize. He tried to move around, but found he couldn't. He looked in front of him, and saw her._

_May was standing right in front of him, about a foot away from his face. He couldn't really identify what the expression was on her face, but it seemed to be a twist between happiness and confusion. _

_"Y-you love me?" She spoke. _

_Ash's eyes widened. Oh crap...he thought._

_May smiled sweetly, and she suddenly sprang into his arms. Ash, taken aback by this rash move, caught her, but lost his balance, and was trying desperately to regain it. _

_He looked behind him towards the ground. Well not really ground, for he suddenly found himself teetering over the edge of a cliff, May still in his arms. He gasped at what he saw, and tried to warn May. However, he couldn't speak. No words came out of his mouth._

_May was wriggling in his arms, not noticing the cliff and their impending doom. May suddenly bounced..._

_And that seemed to seal their fate. _

Ash bolted awake from his dream/nightmare. His hand held his right temple, panting from that ordeal. "It was only a dream..." He whispered to himself.

"Awake yet?"

Ash turned towards the source of the sound. Brock was there, cooking some eggs on an open fire. He was the one who had spoken, it seemed, for he was looking at Ash like he was expecting an answer.

"Good morning to you too Brock." Ash muttered. He slipped out of his sleeping pack and stepped towards the fire, yawning. He stretched his arms wide before asking, "Anyone else up?"

Brock shook his head as he flipped the fried eggs over. "Just me and you for now buddy." He smiled as he reached for the salt.

Ash shrugged as he sat down, cross-legged in front of the fire. He looked around the area. All he saw was trees, trees, Brock, the fire, trees, trees, trees, Max, trees, trees, and May.

Ash's gaze stuck on May. The girl was sleeping contently, a small smile on her lips. _She must be dreaming_ Ash theorized. Lately, Ash had found himself to be drawn more and more towards the Coordinator. And not just out of friendship, but of something more. However, being the oblivious, dim-witted 15 year old that Ash is, he couldn't quite place it just yet.

Brock blinked at the Pokémon trainer. "Uh...Ash? Are you alright?"

Ash immediately snapped back to reality. "Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" He chuckled sheepishly.

Brock went dead serious. "You've been staring at May for over 10 minutes now."

Ash's chuckles froze in their tracks. "I was out of it for that long?" He blinked.

Brock flipped over the fried eggs again. They were almost done, as a golden brown colour had started to creep up along the yolk as of yet. The Breeder nodded, not saying anything.

Ash shook his head violently and rubbed his temples. He turned to Pikachu, who had walked up beside his best friend. "There you are! Where were you buddy?"

The yellow mouse said its name, while pointing towards the inner woods. Ash blinked. "I don't really think I want to know." He concluded.

Brock glanced back at the eggs. He smiled when he realized that they were done. Taking out some plates, he placed the fried eggs into 4 plates. He handed Ash one, and took one for himself.

"Oh boy! Fried eggs in the morning!" A new voice cried. Surprisingly enough, Max was up and at them. He eagerly grabbed his plate and a fork, and started eating. Brock and Ash blinked at the 10 year olds sudden appearance.

"When did you wake up?" Brock asked Max. The boy paused from eating.

"A few minutes ago. I smelled some food and got up." He shrugged, and continued eating.

Ash shrugged at the answer, and started eating as well.

------

(10 minutes earlier)

Flareon was still standing guard in front of his friend. He kept staring right in front of him, not intending to move until either his friend awakens, or something grabs his attention.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Flareon noticed something yellow and about his size sprint across the forest to his right. He turned his head to get a better look, and through the glimpses of yellow that he saw, it seemed to be a Pokémon.

Flareon knew that he shouldn't leave his defenceless friend after he had asked him to stay, but Flareon's curiosity for the Pokémon seemed to overrule that notion. Flareon made a quick scan of the area to make sure there was nobody nearby. After he was satisfied, Flareon silently slipped into the dense forest, and followed the trail that the yellow Pokémon made.

It had been 5 long minutes before Flareon managed to find the edge of the strip of forestry, which beyond that was a clearing. The fire Pokémon crawled to the edge of the woods, and quickly slipped behind some bushes. Hidden, he saw the yellow Pokémon approach a group of 3 humans. The Pokémon saw the human close to the yellow rat pat its head. _Must be pals or something._ He reasoned.

He suddenly saw the rat point directly at the bushes where he was hiding. His eyes widened and he quickly pulled his head back and hid. _Damn it. The rat must have found me out. I'll have to burn them or something soon._ He quickly thought. He waited for a few minutes, and then peeked through the bushes yet again. The humans weren't making any sort of intention to investigate where the mouse was pointing. Flareon sighed with relief, and continued to spy on the group.

------

Meanwhile, the Pokémon Coordinator known as May was still asleep, though she couldn't tell if she was dreaming or not.

_May __slept__ contently in her sleeping bag. However, instead of seeing black, a flash of white light suddenly appeared, waking her. _

_May slowly opened her eyes, wondering where that flash came from. May sat up from her sleeping bag, scratching her head. She scanned the area to see where the source of the flash was coming from. _

_Shrugging, she laid back down in her sleeping bag. She turned __around to__ her left instead of her right..._

_"Hey there beautiful."_

_May's eyes widened as she saw Ash __laid__ down beside her. He was looking at her straight in the face. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which was still exposed. She shivered at his touch. She found herself unable to speak, as no sound came from her mouth when trying to ask him what was going on. _

_Ash leaned in closer to her, right to where their noses touched. May blushed severely, and before she could do anything, Ash pressed his lips to hers._

With a yelp, May bolted awake and sat up at lightning speed, clutching her chest. She could feel it beating madly from her dream. She shook her head and got her bearings.

Her friends were sitting around the fire, seemingly eating breakfast. She saw Brock, her brother Max, and Ash. The 3 hadn't yet noticed her awakening, which was a relief for the Coordinator. She didn't yet want to talk about what had just happened. Plus she didn't really remember much of her dream now. Just of Ash...

May shook her head again, trying desperately to clear her thoughts of Ash. It wasn't that she didn't like Ash. On the contrary, she really, really liked him ever since her bike was totalled when the two first met, though he was oblivious about that. She had managed to contain her feelings for so long, though she tried to admit her feelings to him, like during the Jirachi Incident and the Deoxys incident. That second time she was so _close_. Since the Lucario situation, Ash had started to show signs that May could not interpret, but was certain that they were directed at her. The Manaphy incident was uneventful in the field of Love, but May _did _get a new friend.

She suddenly felt a yawn escape her mouth, and she knew it was time to greet the day. She got up from her sleeping bag, making sure that her hair was alright, and she slipped behind the woods to change.


	3. A New Discovery

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! As a reward, here's the next chapter!**

**Oh, and a little note of the length of the chapters: They seem really long on a word document, but not so long when uploaded onto the site. Hopefully this one will be longer.  
Now then. On with the show!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3: A New Discovery**

Flareon had noticed the human girl appear into the woods. Unfortunately, she was very, very close to where he was hiding. _I have to get back to him. I've left him alone for too long. _He thought. He knew the way back to the tree, but the problem was getting by this fool.

He looked around, seeing if there was another way past her. Not finding one, the only way to go was to get across the strip of dirt that she was standing on. Then he can go prone and crawl back to his friend.

Flareon watched the girl, not caring about the fact that she was taking off her shirt. As the human was pulling the clothing over her face, the fire Pokémon quickly made a dash through the pass right in front of her.

However, while sprinting across the strip, Flareon's hind leg managed to get caught on an uprooted tree root. The sudden stop made Flareon collapse to the ground, flat on his stomach.

The Pokémon mentally slapped himself for doing such a stupid mistake, and before he could get up, he heard a feminine voice.

"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?"

Flareon's eyes widened. _Shit. I've been found out. _He felt himself being picked up into the air, and was now staring into the face of the girl that he was trying to avoid. He noticed that she had changed into a blouse, shorts and was wearing a bandana. The Pokémon snickered at the thought of toasting this girl right now. But he had no time for shenanigans. He had to get back to his friend.

"Flare!" He cried out loud. He looked down at her shoes, and spat out an ember onto her footwear. They quickly caught on fire, and he smiled to himself as the girl cried out in shock. He quickly jumped out of her grasp and quickly took off to his destination.

However, thanks to his heightened senses, he heard footsteps that were approaching him. _I'm being followed. That girl must have put the flames out faster than I thought._ He went double time and ran faster.

------

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, the 2 trainers and one accomplice was finishing up their breakfast and packing up.

Ash, however, was the first to notice that something was wrong. He looked around the area, and noticed that something was out of place. He looked towards where a lone sleeping bag was strewn on the ground, along with a fanny pack. _May._

"Has anyone seen May recently?" Brock suddenly asked.

Max suddenly noticed the disappearance of his sister, and quickly started to search for her, calling out her name.

"May? Maaaaay?!" Panic started to overtake the 10 year old, and tears started to brew in his eyes. Brock went over to him and patted his shoulder. "May's probably alright. Don't worry."

Pikachu sprinted over to Ash, while repeatedly spoke its name over and over in rapid succession, emphasizing certain syllables of his name. He tugged Ash's leg to get his attention.

The Pokémon trainer looked down at his friend, and he went down on one knee. "What is it Pikachu?"

The electric mouse started saying its name in rapid succession, like before, except it was shorter, and it ended with Pikachu pointing towards the woods again.

"She went into the woods?"

Brock and Max both heard this, and quickly ran towards Ash. "May's in the woods?"

Ash shrugged. "Apparently so. Come on, we should go find her." Without another word, he quickly bolted to where Pikachu was pointing earlier. Brock blinked at Ash's sudden departure, and quickly followed. Max raised an eyebrow.

"What about our stuff?" Max called out to Brock.

"Leave it! We can get it later!" Ash called over his shoulder before jumping into the forest. Max shrugged and followed after the duo.

------

Flareon had finally made it out of the woods.

_Thank freaking god! I could not stand that forest for much longer!_ Flareon complained in his mind. However, another realization came to mind. _What about the girl? I'll let him take care of her. _

As Flareon jumped out of the dense wood and into the clearing, he saw his friend, still sleeping. He quickly dashed over to him, and looked at his wrist. There was a watch wrapped around his wrist. But he barely understood how to read time like humans. All he deciphered was that there was a long stick pointing at an 8 and a short stick pointing at a 6 from the device.

Shrugging, he looked at his friend's face. It was stained with dirt, and his hair was muddy. _He needs to take a shower soon. I'm starting to revolt his smell. _The Pokémon thought.

He suddenly realized that the girl would see this as well. He mentally facepalmed (not that Pokémon could do that, but he's thinking it) and sighed. He might as well take the consequences of his actions.

With that final thought, the Fire Pokémon turned around 180 degrees, and sat down, his tail moving with the breeze, beside his sleeping master and friend. He waited for the girl to come and notice the two. If she tried to do something drastic, he'd have to torch her.

_Please let her do something drastic, please let her do something drastic_.

--------

May was running through the forest, chasing after a Pokémon that had tried to set her on fire, even after she had tried to help it. She ducked and dodged the forest's many obstacles that was trying to deter her from the path. _Seems that everything doesn't want me in places.__Except for Ash.__ He probably wants me beside him in his tent- _May's eyes widened at what she was thinking.

"Woah, woah woah! Why am I thinking these thoughts?! What the hell's wrong with me?!" She knocked her head for a moment before running again.

It had been a while since she had woken up. Problem is, she hadn't even acknowledged her companions that she was awake and active. And now she was running through the forest, without the PokéNav, and without her Pokémon, chasing a Pokémon for apparently no reason at all.

_Man this is a messed up day so far._ She thought.

However, during her deep thoughts, she had been approaching a clearing in the area. Sighing that she could rest for a bit, she started to walk now, and stepped out of the dense woods into the clearing.

She found one thing that she was looking for, and another thing that she didn't expect.

_Crap. The Pokémon already has a trainer!_ May complained to herself. She was expecting to corner it and possibly catch it. However, she didn't fully think that through, and neglected to realize that she didn't even have any Pokémon.

Then she noticed something about the trainer that apparently owned the Flareon. For one, he was sprawled across the ground, and looked half-dead, if not for the slight rise and fall of his chest.

May was pretty unsure on what to do, regarding the situation. She could go and see if the kid was alright, but the Flareon that's defending him would no doubt torch her to cinders. Then again, she could wait for her friends to come and find her. But when could that be? Ash and Max wouldn't have noticed her being gone, being the dense people they are. Brock might have noticed something, but would probably let it go and leave it to herself.

May sighed with grief. "I guess it's just me then." She took a deep breath, composing her nervousness. When she felt ready, she started to advance towards the boy.

She kept both her eyes on the Flareon, who had noticed her advance. She had walked within 5 feet of the Flame Pokémon. _One more step and I'm in cinders._ She thought tragically.

She closed her eyes, and took the step

------

Flareon blinked as he saw the human girl advance towards him. _Either this girl's really brave, or really stupid. She doesn't even have any Pokémon to defend herself!_

Flareon looked towards her, and looked back at his friend. He looked fine, except for where he was sleeping. He was resting with his back against the tree when he left, not on the ground; and the light breathing, which was something that had changed since he left.

Wait... Flareon squinted. He had seen a glimpse of a sparkle beside his master's head. He glanced back at the human, who had conveniently closed her eyes. Taking the opportunity, he quickly sprinted over to his friend's head. He tried to locate where that sparkle had come from. He remembered seeing it beside his friend's head...

The Pokémon examined his master's noggin up close first. He needed to see whether what he thought happened really _did_ happen. He placed his paw on the forehead. It felt a little warm, that was for sure. He kept moving his paw around his friend's head, checking to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. He kept 'scanning' the noggin, until he felt a little bump at around the summit of the head. The Fire Pokémon paused, and felt around a bit more. There it was again. At the same area.

_He must have been clunked in the head by something. I wonder what..._

Flareon looked up at the Oak Tree. He noticed a few hanging acorns that were suspended from the branches, but an acorn wouldn't have been enough to knock him out...

Flareon looked in front of him, and realized that the human was still here. Maybe she could help...

"Flare! Flareon!" He said, jumping in front of the girl. He clawed at her leg for a moment to get her attention, and quickly ran towards his fallen friend. "Flareon! Flare Flare!" He cried, pointing a paw at his friend's head.


	4. Stupid Mistakes

**Don't worry about Flareon's current attitude. Later on he...warms...to the group. And that's all I'm saying.**

**Thanks for all the reviews you guys! This just shows how good my writing skills are in reality, instead of the biased responses that my friends and family give me whenever they read my random romance short stories. **

** Now then. Chapter 4 starts! **

* * *

** Chapter 4: Stupid Mistakes**

"Can we take a break or something?! We've been running for over an hour now and we have no idea where the heck we're going!" Max shouted at Ash. Indeed, the trio have been running through the woods for a while now, but he was wrong about one thing: It wasn't an hour. It was half an hour.

Ash, however, didn't hear this, and simply kept running. He had noticed footprints in the mud that looked like May's shoes a while ago. Since then they had been following the trail that she unknowingly left behind.

_Ok, as soon as I find May, I'm going to praise the fact that she's alright, then scold her for leaving us in the dark. __Got it._ Ash thought.

Pikachu had sensed his friend and trainer's thoughts, and nodded along with Ash at his plan. It wasn't exactly the best one there was, but it would do until something better came along.

The trio (or quartet, whichever you prefer) had followed the mud tracks for a little longer now. That's when Pikachu noticed a different set of footprints that correspond with the human tracks that May left behind. The Pokémon jumped down from Ash's shoulder, and waved his arms, crying out his name over and over again. The Pokémon trainer paused, and he looked at Pikachu. "What is it bud?"

"Pika pi! Pikachu!" the yellow mouse pointed to the new tracks that were beside May's footprints. Ash blinked, and knelt down, examining the tracks.

Brock and Max finally catched up to the trainer. They were panting like mad once they found out that Ash had stopped. "Jeez Ash, why aren't you tired?" Max gasped in between breaths.

Brock had seemed to notice the tracks as well, and knelt down beside Ash. He made a low 'hmmmm' sound, and traced the outline of the mysterious paw-shaped prints in the mud with his index finger. He examined his finger after making the full trace. It was stained with mud.

"These tracks are fresh. Whoever or whatever made these is still around." Brock concluded. Ash raised an eyebrow, and looked at Brock's finger, which was covered in mud. He rubbed his chin in thought, and got up. "We should find May. She might be in danger if that thing is still around." He said.

Max blinked as he looked at the tracks. "Are you intentionally dense? Those prints aren't very big! Heck, I bet May's Eevee could have made those." He pointed out.

Brock took a few more seconds to ponder these facts. It was true that they should find May and inquire as to what was going on, but then again, she could just be going for a walk with her Eevee. But why would she be going this far away from the campsite?

Brock looked at the 10 year old brother of May. "Max, what time is it?" He asked.

Max raised an eyebrow at Brock's odd question. "Huh? What does that have to do with our current situation?" Ash blinked at Max's long words.

Brock repeated his question. "What time is it?"

Max shrugged, and fished out his PokéNav from his pocket. He checked the time, and quickly responded. "1:00 PM." He said plainly. His eyes suddenly widened as something in his head clicked. "ONE O'CLOCK?!" He looked at the time again. It was accurately correct.

Ash blinked. "We left to look for May at around 11 o'clock, right?" Brock nodded, and Ash's eyes widened. "Then we should quicken our pace. We have to find her soon."

Brock nodded. "And I have an idea. How about our Pokémon?"

Ash's eyes widened yet again. He sighed, depressed, and slowly walked over to the nearest tree. He faced it for one moment, before beginning to bang his head against the tree trunk.

"Gah! Ash!" Brock quickly ran over to his friend and tried to restrain him from killing himself for his stupidity. "You can beat yourself up later! Right now just call out your Swellow!"

Ash wasn't done yet. "I am such an IDIOT!" he started slapping his forehead. "WHY didn't I think of that BEFORE!"

Pikachu rolled his eyes, and reached a tiny arm over at Ash's belt. He plucked one of Ash's Pokeballs from the slot, and pressed the center button. The ball suddenly expanded in size, and looked really big for the Pokémon. That didn't stop him, and he quickly tossed the ball onto the ground in front of him.

The ball opened, releasing one of Ash's best Hoenn Pokémon: Swellow. The Flying-Normal type Pokémon cried into the air once before turning to Ash. It cocked his head to the side as he watched his master getting beaten up by his friend.

Pikachu walked up to Swellow, before the Pokémon could do anything rash. The two creatures struck up a conversation immediately, Pikachu explaining the situation, while Swellow asked questions concerning his task. Once Pikachu had given the Flying type Pokémon enough information, Swellow nodded and took off into the air, cawing its name once more.

Ash finally stopped from his inane stupor and stared at Pikachu. "Pikachu, did you do what I think you did?"

The Pokémon looked at Ash oddly, before nodding and chirping its name happily.

Brock looked up in the air. "I guess we wait until Swellow comes back I guess." He said.

-------

"AH! Get offa me!" May cried. The Flareon had started to scratch her leg from out of nowhere, and it was really starting to hurt. She waved her leg around in an anime-like fashion to shake the Pokémon off of her.

The Flareon obliged, but then started to point to its...trainer? May blinked. "What's with your trainer?" She asked the Pokémon.

The Fire Pokémon cocked his head to the side, as if wondering what she just said. He then just ran up to his trainer's feet, and beckoned her to come closer.

May raised an eyebrow. _Why does this Pokémon want my help? And what's with his trainer? He sleeps like Ash, totally out cold! _ May felt a small smile enter her lips at the thought.

She obliged to Flareon's request, and decided to check out his trainer. She stepped up to where the trainer's feet were, and she moved the bushes that were conveniently in the way of her view. As she did so, her eyes widened.

The boy was in bad condition. His hair was terribly dirty and muddy, as were the rest of his clothes. From what she could gather from the occasional speck of colour from all the dirt and mud, she saw that he was wearing a black shirt, with a gray vest to go with it. He was wearing jeans, that was for sure. She could tell from the way they fit onto his legs, and he was wearing runners. Out of the corner of her eye, May saw his backpack, which looked like an ordinary travelling backpack, except for a long flat sort of board that was sticking up from the backpack. She didn't get a closer look just yet. Besides, she probably shouldn't touch someone else's stuff.

Flareon suddenly walked up to his trainer's head, and started rubbing it with his paw. He started to say his name some more at May, who stepped to where the Pokémon was. She seemed to get the idea that something bad happened to this kid.

She knelt down beside the trainer's head, and examined it. Other than the messy black hair that was drenched in mud, she didn't really see much at first glance. She acknowledged this to Flareon, who just responded by gripping May's pinkie finger with his mouth, and lifted it onto a certain spot of the boy's head. The Pokémon then placed a paw on the top of May's hand, and started to move his paw, which in turn caused May's hand to vibrate against the kid's noggin. She suddenly felt a bulge of some sort on her palm.

NOW May got what Flareon was trying to tell her. The kid probably got conked in the head somehow and got knocked out. _Poor boy.__ I hope Ash gets here soon. Then we can get this kid back to the campsite and help him out._

May suddenly saw a fast moving shadow approach and pass her. She looked around for a moment, and looked up in the air. The Pokémon Coordinator suddenly realized that there was a Swellow swooping around in the air. At first it looked just like a regular old Swellow, until she realized out of the blue that it belonged to Ash. _How did I figure that out?_ She thought. Shrugging, she got up, and waved over at the flying Pokémon, hoping to gain its attention.

-----

Meanwhile, high in the sky, Ash's Swellow was scouting the area for his trainer's crush. And before you say anything, Swellow knew about Ash and May loooong before Ash could admit it to anyone. He had seen it when he was just a little Taillow, a few weeks after he had been caught by Ash. Call it intuition or just plain obviousness, but Swellow knew about things before most others did. _Meh, that's life I guess._

Swellow shook its current thoughts from its head as he flew around the area. He looked down upon the ground, and noticed someone waving towards him. Utilizing his naturally sharp eyes, he noticed that it was May, trying to get his attention. _There she is. I'll have to go tell Pikachu._ He thought. He looked straight ahead, and banked left, making a full U turn and headed back to where Ash and Co. Were.

------

"Are you sure?"

"Pika Pikachu! Pika!"

"She's alright, right?"

"Pika!"

Brock got up. "That settles it. We follow Swellow to where he saw May. Then we can assess the situation." He concluded. Max nodded in agreement to this, as did Ash.

The party had just been rejoined by Swellow, who reported his findings to Pikachu, who relayed them to Ash, who then interpreted this information and explained it to Brock and Max. At the information that Ash had to process, he sighed at the thought that he had finally found May. He was getting hungry...

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go find her." Ash finally said. At this signal, Swellow instantly took flight, and, using his memory, started flying in the direction of where May was. Pikachu quickly scampered after Swellow, with the humans tailing the yellow mouse.

It had been around 5-10 minutes of running through the forest when Ash suddenly saw a new sight. It was grass.

"FINALLY! Thank god!" Ash cheered at the sight of a place to rest. He was almost there.

As the group emerged from the woods and into the clearing, Swellow instantly perched on top of Ash's head. Pikachu glanced at the Flying-type Pokémon, who simply pointed a wing at a particular tree, and then tapped one of Ash's empty Pokéballs, returning to the capsule.

Ash had noticed the Pokémon pointing to the tree as well, and turned to Brock and Max. "Swellow pointed to that tree..." The trainer pointed towards a particularly large Oak tree about a kilometre away from their current position.

Max beamed up. "May is probably there then!" He instantly sped off towards the tree, leaving his companions in a trail of dust.

Ash and Brock exchanged glances, and quickly sped off after Max. Pikachu had already perched up on Ash's shoulder, and was therefore still with them.

As Ash and Brock tried to catch up to the excited Max, the Pokémon trainer noticed that at the tree of the base, there were a few silhouettes there. He couldn't really make out what they were, but it was obvious that one of them was definitely human, as it was standing upright. Ash squinted to get a better look at what was ahead of him.

There she was.

"May!"

* * *

**A first glimpse of our mystery boy is revealed! What happened to him? What _will _happen to him? What will our heroes do with him? How will Flareon react to this situation. (Flareon: BURN STUFF!) **

**Find out in the next chapter (and possibly the chapter after that) of In The Fire Of The Sun! Please Read and Review! Hopes that doesn't make him sound desperate. **


	5. Reunited and Silent Help

**Again, boredom can make you do things that are unexpected to others. I wanted to post this chapter so I can actually get off my lazy butt and write up a few more chapters. I've already written Chapter 9, and I need to get Chapter 10 out of the way so I can actually delve into the plot that I have planned. **

**Oh, and I forgot to put this part in Chapter 1:**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. All names, characters, and ideas are owned by Pokemon USA and Nintendo. This fiction is not associated with Nintendo. Mystery Boy is owned by SteeleCratos. All rights reserved. Stealing will result in the stealer being fired out of a cannon into the sun. Have fun!_  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Re-United and Silent Help**

((10 minutes earlier))

May sighed, and rested her head on her hands as she waited for Ash to come. It had been half an hour since Swellow had seen her and left to tell Ash, and it was past lunch! She was starting to get a little hungry...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumbling noise that seemed to come from somewhere. May blinked, and looked around before realizing that it came from her. She groaned and rested her head on her hands again. _Scratch that. I'm REALLY starting to get hungry. Where's Brock when you need him?_ She wondered.

She took a glance at the kid that she had discovered. He was still unconscious. _I wonder how long he's been out. Hopefully not for too long, or else he's in serious trouble. _

She noticed the Flareon that was sitting beside the boy's head, staring at her. _That Flareon creeps me out, despite its good intentions for his master. He keeps staring at me, like it wants me to go nuts or something. Hopefully Pikachu can reason with it and get it to leave me alone. _

There it was again, that grumbling sound coming from May's stomach. She placed a hand on her belly and started rubbing it. She moaned, and looked around for some sort of sustenance. She couldn't bear to be without food for much longer...

That's when her eyes fell upon the lone backpack. She stared at it for a couple of moments, contemplating what to do. She knew that she shouldn't steal another person's things, but she was sooooo hungry. And the boy's out cold, he would never notice that some of his food was missing.

She glanced back over towards the unconscious trainer. His Flareon had actually fallen asleep beside him. _Perfect... _She thought.

Without another thought, she quietly walked over towards the Trainer's backpack, making sure not to make a sound. She had managed to make it to the surprisingly big backpack without alerting the guarding Flareon, thank heavens.

But now May struck another problem. Where to start? _Biggest pocket first. _She thought.

Without thinking that ridiculous thought through, she found the zipper that closed and opened the biggest pocket of the backpack, and started to unzip the pack. However, she decided to only open up the pocket about half-way through, which was a relatively wise choice.

As the Coordinator opened up the pack, she blinked at what she discovered.

"Nothing?!" She exclaimed out loud. She suddenly realized the volume of her voice and quickly covered her mouth to prevent any other words from coming out. Eyes wide, she quickly checked on the unknown boy and the Flareon. They were still unaware of her outburst. Well, Flareon was, for he was the only other being around that still had sentient thought at the moment.

She placed a hand on her chest, noticing that her heart was beating like a bass drum in the chest from the fright of her mistake. She waited for a few moments until she calmed down, and quietly zipped back up the pack to its original position.

She walked back to the trunk of the tree, and sighed as she looked around the area. Nobody in the area...

She suddenly felt a sickening feeling in her gut, and not from the hunger. It was fear. Fear that Ash and the others might not come to get her. She could go back to the campsite, but she had to stay with the boy. He was in no condition to stay alone in the woods by himself, even if his Pokémon was with him.

_No. Ash will come. He won't be able to stand an hour without trying to look for me, let alone a day. _She smiled to herself. Ash had always been there for her...

She suddenly heard a barely audible yelp in the distance. Raising an eyebrow, she stood up, and started to look around for the source of the sound. She couldn't really see who make the noise, but she was sure that it came from someone familiar.

She waited for a few more moments, waiting for the sound to come again. She perked up her ears, listening for it...

There it was!

However, it was more audible now, and she actually discerned what was being said. After she fully interpreted it, her eyes widened as her brain processed what the word was.

It was her name?

"May!" There it was again. It was definitely closer now.

May looked towards her left, and finally saw who was calling her name. Her expression of sorrow instantly morphed into an expression of happiness.

"Ash!"

--------

"...and then you found this kid unconscious?" Brock asked.

May nodded as she glanced at the boy. Brock had put him up against the tree to get a better view of him while they talked about the situation. May had just finished explaining what had happened that led her to the boy in the first place.

What May found really weird is that Brock had managed to move the boy's position without the interruption or objection of the Flareon, who just merely watched the Breeder do his work. After Brock had finished, the fire Pokémon merely sat in the space that was in between his trainer's legs, which was a wide space.

Ash stood beside May, deep in thought. "So, from what I can gather...this...Flareon...basically led you towards his trainer, hoping that you can help him?" He asked.

At this question, Max blinked. He raised an eyebrow skeptically at Ash, and suddenly pointing an accusing finger at him. "Who are you and what have you done to Ash?!" He demanded.

Brock blinked. "Easy there Max. It's a perfectly reasonable question-slash-theory, despite the person who thought it up."

"Hey!"

May giggled lightly, but then turned serious after a moment.. "Alright, enough fighting you guys. Let's get back to the point. What should we do about him?" She brought up the question that had been nagging at all of their minds.

Ash took a look at the boy that they had been discussing about. He was in really bad shape, and he was in desperate need of cleaning.

"Why don't we bring him back to camp?"

Ash blinked. He was actually about to say the exact same thing, but that wasn't his voice...

He turned around, and saw that Max was the one who had suggested the course of action. Brock and May had also looked at him with the same expression of surprise.

Max looked at the trio with questioning eyes. "What? It's a 'perfectly reasonable question-slash-theory, despite the person who thought it up '." Brock chuckled silently at the quote.

Ash shrugged. "Seems fine to me. Brock?" The Pokémon Trainer turned to the Breeder, who nodded as well. "May?" Ash asked her.

May winced when Ash acknowledged her. "I'm all for the plan and all...but what about Flareon? He seems protective of the kid. He'll probably torch us if we try to move him. Hell, he'll probably think we're kidnapping him!" she exclaimed, bringing her face right up over Ash's. The trainer lost his balance, and went tumbling to the ground.

Meanwhile, while this commotion was going on, Pikachu was walking to the Fire Pokémon, intending on asking a few questions of his own.

The Pokémon was watching the yellow mouse as he proceeded closer. Once the two were about 2 feet away from each other, the two started talking.

_I'm Pikachu._ The Electric-type Pokémon introduced himself.

Flareon made no change of expression, but simply said. _I know._

Pikachu blinked, but let it slide for now. _How did you find May? _

_The girl? _Flareon raised an eyebrow. _I didn't find her. She found me. I only left him for a little while when I saw a yellow Pokémon run through the woods. He was really starting to bug me, so I went to find him and shut him up. You look a little like him... _

Pikachu's eyes widened after he had said 'yellow Pokémon'. _I look alot like other Pokémon, but I'm simply Pikachu. _He replied, with a weak chuckle.

_I suppose so. Anyways, I suddenly found your human friends camping out in the clearing, and I was eavesdropping. Not that I could understand what you humans were saying. Then the girl came out of the blue and tried to pick me up! I torched her shoes and ran back here, but she must have followed me. That's when I noticed that he was incapacitated. After I assessed the situation, I theorized that the girl could help me out, so I manipulated her into finding this area and finding him. _He explained. Pikachu nodded with understanding.

_Ahh. I see. _He said. His ears suddenly perked up, and he turned around to Ash. _Give me a moment. Ash is calling me. _He scampered off to his best friend, leaving Flareon to wonder:

_Who, the kid, the dolt or the strong guy?_

-------

Ash had been the one to call Pikachu. The trainer waited for his friend to come to him. Once Pikachu had went up to him and inquired as to what he wanted, Ash went down to one knee.

"Pikachu, can you tell Flareon of the situation? We need to get the kid back to camp so we can help him properly, and we can't have him torching us. Can you do that?" He explained.

The electric mouse nodded, chirping his name once. He scampered back off to the guarding Flareon.

May looked at Ash. "What do you think happened to the boy?" she asked him. It was about time she got a second opinion.

Brock actually responded instead of Ash. "Who IS the boy, first of all?" He asked.

Silence covered the group like a fog. No one had an answer to the question. Finally Max spoke up. "We can just ask him when he wakes up." He suggested.

May groaned at her little brother. "That goes without saying Max. But we should at least figure out the kid's name so we can refer to him as such." She explained.

Max nodded. "I see." He grinned mischievously after a second. "I bet you like him already." He teased.

May's eyes widened, and she blushed. "Max! You idiot! I'm not stupid; I don't fall for every guy I meet!" She smacked him on the head before walking away in a huff.

Ash blinked at the situation that was occurring. "Uh...I'm staying out of this one." He raised his hands defensively and walked over to where Pikachu was. "Hey Pikachu. How's it coming?"

Flareon looked up at the Trainer with questioning eyes. After studying the trainer for a moment, he started to talk back to Pikachu for a moment. The yellow Pokémon started laughing, and responded.

Ash blinked at the two's seemingly uninterrupted conversation, and suddenly got annoyed. "Well fine. Don't talk to me. I'll just go see how May's doing." He walked away from the Pokémon. However, due to his obliviousness to everything around him, he failed to notice that he had walked right up to the unconscious person's leg. And as gravity intended, he lost his balance and crashed to the ground. Again.

"3 times in one day! This is just great..." He grumbled as he dusted himself off. He looked back at the Pokémon, and saw that they were laughing hysterically at him. He facepalmed and walked away, ignoring the laughs.

Flareon snickered. _Wow that was funny. Is he always like that?_

_Constantly. _Pikachu responded. _So you'll let us take him back to camp?_

_As long as I come as well._ Flareon said. Pikachu nodded and ran off to where Brock was.

The Pokémon Breeder was busy scolding Max for what he did to May, when he saw Pikachu come up to him. He bent down as close as he could to Pikachu's level, who had started to tell him that it was ok to move the boy.

Brock, however, did not understand a word that Pikachu had said. He just retained a blank look on his face as the Pokémon continued to make different gestures and constantly repeated its name over and over again.

After one last 'Pika!', Brock sighed, and just plain said, "...what?"

Pikachu stared at the Pokémon Breeder for a moment, and facepalmed, giving him an annoyed thumbs up.

THAT Brock understood. "We can bring him back? Good." He got up and went over to the boy yet again. Flareon looked up at Brock, wondering what he was here for. Pikachu rapidly explained who he was and what he was allowed to do. Flareon nodded with understanding, and moved out of the way to let the Pokémon Breeder pick up his friend.

------

_Steele..._

_Steele...Steele Cratos..._

_He groaned, and slowly opened his eyes The boy suddenly felt a pounding in his head as his eyes focused. It was unbearable. "Gah...what happened? Where am I?" He rubbed his temples as he got his bearings._

_ He found himself on a grassy meadow overlooking a lake. Or the sea, he wasn't sure which He looked in front of him, and saw a girl. A particularly beautiful girl, around his age, but a girl, nonetheless. _

_"Steele." Her sapphire blue eyes met his dark brown eyes. "You are not in Sinnoh anymore. You know this. However, a new path is blazed, and you must traverse it."_

_Steele blinked. "Is this a dream?" She nodded. He sighed, relieved. "And concerning what you just told me, what do I do? And who the hell are you anyway?" He asked. _

_The girl kept talking like she had never heard him. "Follow the master, the director, the producer, and the runt. They will lead you to your objective." _

_Steele nodded. "And my Pokémon?"_

_"You may only bring 1 Pokémon that is indigenous to Sinnoh. The rest of your team must be from either Kanto, Johto, or from Hoenn." She simply stated. _

_Steele raised an eyebrow at this. This was too specific. It was like a game. But he had no choice but to play along for now."Very well then. Who are you though?" _

_However, Steele didn't get the answer that he was looking for. _

_"Steele...awaken..."_

-------

"Has he woken up yet?" Brock asked the group.

The four were sitting around a campfire that they had set up, since it was getting dark now. They had just gotten the kid and his stuff back to the campsite, after a couple hours of traversing through the forest. Since they had gotten the boy back, they had taken shifts to see if he was awake. If he didn't wake up by morning, they'd take him to the hospital. That was the plan.

May took a glance at the unconscious body of the boy. He looks so peaceful. She had to go check him out. There was something about him that drew her towards him. She wasn't sure what, or why, but it wasn't infatuation or love.

"I'll go check. It's my turn anyway." She told the others. She quickly rose from her spot around the campfire, and walked off to the extra sleeping bag that they had placed the boy in. His backpack was used as a pillow.

May found herself staring at the backpack. She remembered what Brock said when she inquired as to what was inside it earlier on.

_"Hey Brock?" May asked, as the Breeder was hefting the boy over his shoulder. _

_"Yes?" He asked. May pointed to the lone backpack that was resting against the Oak tree. _

_"What is that thing sticking out of the kid's backpack?" She asked. _

_Brock raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?" _

_May shrugged. "I guess I'm just curious." _

_Brock obliged, and went over to the backpack. He opened up the main pocket, studied what was inside it for just a moment. When he was satisfied, he closed it back up, and passed it to May. "Can you carry it?" _

_She nodded. "Sure. But what is it?" She tapped the...thing...that was extending from the backpack. _

_Brock rolled his eyes. "That's a guitar. I'm surprised myself. I guess this kid loves to play it if he brought it along all this way." He commented. _

_May picked up the backpack that was on the ground, but found that it was pretty heavy. The air wooshed out of her lungs as she struggled to lift it. "What the hell? Guitars aren't this heavy!" _

_"Need some help?" A voice asked behind her. _

_May blushed, for she knew who it was. She turned around, and confirmed her theory. "Hey Ash. Uh...sure. It's too heavy for me anyway." _

_Ash smiled, and wrapped a hand around the handle of the pack. May watched with awe as Ash lifted the pack, seemingly without much effort. She gaped soon afterwards when he replaced it with his own backpack. "You're kidding me. This thing is weightless!" Ash commented. _

_May was just about to retort, when she was suddenly interrupted by Brock. "Come on guys! Let's move! We need to get back before dark!" _

_Ash nodded, and started to walk, but not before telling May, "When this is all over, I want to talk to you in private. Meet me at the river. Twilight. 4 days from now." _

May felt herself blush at the thought of Ash wanting to speak to her in private. _I wonder if he likes me back? _She wondered. She shook those thoughts off. _I'll see later on. _

"Now then. What was I supposed to be doing? Oh yeah. Checking on the kid." May turned her head to examine the sleeping bag that the boy was..err..._sleeping_ in. He was still unconscious.

May was about to go back to her friends, when she noticed something about his face. She blinked. "Eh?"

There it was again. A change of some sort. Just for a split second, but it was a change. She didn't really know how to explain it, but it was something new. May blinked again, and leaned in closer to the boy's face, studying him.

Wait for it...wait for it...

There it was! A twitch, it seemed to be. May's eyes widened. _He's conscious._ She thought.

She kept looking, for just seeing one twitch may not be enough. She needed more proof.

And proof she got.

The boy's eyelids started to flutter rapidly, which definitely meant that he was going to wake up. May was too taken by surprise to immediately tell the others that he was going to wake up after a long time.

Then she saw it. After a few minutes of eyelid vibration, May was staring into deep, dark brown eyes that looked like black.

The boy groaned, indicating that he wasn't fully awake. He closed his eyes tightly, and opened them again, getting them into focus.

May was still staring at him, and was actually really close to his face. She waited for a response so she can tell that he was alright.

The boy squinted, and moved his eyes around, getting his bearings, most likely. The eyes moved around a bit more, and then focused on May.

Silence.

May smiled. "Welcome back." She greeted him. However, she didn't get the response she expected.

The boy's eyes suddenly widened, but continued to stay focused on May. His mouth opened, and he spoke, though it was just a whisper.

"You..."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Our Mystery Boy has a name! And it's MY name!**

**But this is a totally different Steele Cratos. He is in no way associated with me at all. He just has the same name as me. I hope this doesn't make me conceited or something. Ah well. **

**Hope that this chapter answers some questions! Just a few more chapters and then we can get into the plot! YAY! **


	6. Awakening

**Alright, as promised: Here's the next chapter!**

**Quick little note: I'm having a few internet problems at the moment, and some other major school projects and tests and such. Because of this, There won't be any updates until this weekend. I'm really sorry about this, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. **

**Cookies...  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Awakening**

Steele could not believe his eyes. It was _her._ The one in his dream. _How the heck did I dream her up? I've never seen her before in my life!_ He thought.

But no matter who she was, it was her nonetheless. Steele rubbed his eyes, and managed to sit up from his spot. He looked down, and saw that it was a sleeping bag. _A sleeping bag? Where the hell am I?_ He wondered to himself.

But before he could contemplate any further on his current situation, he was assaulted by a ridiculously painful pounding on his head. He winced and rubbed his temples. "Gah...my head."

He glanced at the girl, who had an expression of worry on her face. She spoke. "Are you alright? We found you in the woods...you got wanged on the head somehow."

Steele raised an eyebrow. "Hit on the head? That can't be right..." He trailed off. He looked behind him, and saw his backpack. He sighed with relief, and turned around, going on his knees. He grabbed the zipper that enclosed a small pocket on the left side of the pack, and opened it up. He dug around for a moment, before pulling out a pretty small box from the pack.

The girl blinked. "What is that?"

Steele looked at her. "It's acetylsalicylic acid."

All he got was a blank stare.

He sighed, and rephrased what he said. "My bad. Its headache relief meds. Aspirin really. I always carry a few boxes with me. Apparently, this is my last one. I should stock up on some more soon..." he opened the box, and pulled out a grid of plastic boxes, closed off with aluminum, each individual box containing a pill of sorts. He placed a thumb and his forefinger on the plastic covering around two pills. He pushed on them, and the aluminum gave way, releasing the two medications, which dropped into his hand. He replaced the grid into the box and placed it back in the bag. He looked around for a moment, before turning to the girl. "Uh...do you have any water?"

The girl giggled for a moment, and answered. "Yep. Stay right here, I'll be a minute." She got up to her feet, and ran off.

Steele raised an eyebrow. _She certainly is nice. I should ask her name once she gets back._

After a few minutes had gone by, the girl had returned with a bottle of water. Steele thanked her and opened up the bottle. He took the pills that he had in his hand, and he placed them in his mouth, quickly taking a drink of water with it. He felt the pills crawl down his throat as he swallowed, and he sighed once they hit his stomach. "I needed that. Thank you."

The girl smiled again. "No problem."

"I never really caught your name." Steele asked, placing the water bottle beside him. The girl offered a hand to shake. "May. May Maple."

Steele shook the offered hand. "Steele. Steele Cratos."

May nodded. "The guys will be glad to see that you're awake." She smiled.

"You have friends here as well?"

"Yep!" She replied cheerily. "I'll go get them!" May sped off before Steele had a chance to protest.

-------------

Meanwhile, Ash, Brock and Max were sitting around the campfire, discussing the day's events. Surprisingly enough, the moon was almost at the top of the sky, its crescent gaze descending upon the boys. It was mystical.

Or at least it was to Brock, who had the mental capacity to acknowledge these sorts of things. Ash was too busy gobbling down his dinner, as was Max.

Ash gulped down a carrot piece, and looked at Brock. "The food is delicious! Once again I am amazed at your culinary genius." He grinned and continued eating.

Brock smiled. "Thanks Ash, for the 10th time tonight." He looked to his side, where there were 3 bowls of soup sitting.

Max took note of this, and asked Brock. "Who are those bowls for?"

"These are for me, May and the boy." He replied.

"Why aren't you eating yours?" Ash spoke up.

"I want to wait until everyone else eats before I eat." He said. "It's only fair, especially for the boy. He probably hasn't eaten in a while, from what I could tell from his condition."

Ash nodded in understanding. "Alright then." He gulped down the last bit of soup, and handed the bowl to Brock. Max had finished as well, and handed his bowl to Brock as well.

As soon as this act had been carried out, May suddenly sprouted out of the bushes, panting like mad. She ran towards Brock, waving her arms and hands in excitement. "He's awake! He's awake!" She cried.

Brock quickly stood up, and ran towards May, and placed a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down. "Easy there May!"

Ash was immediately at May's side, and blinked. "What's going on?" He asked.

"He's awake! The boy's awake!"

"He's awake?"

"He's awake!"

"Awake, is he?"

"Awake, he is!"

"Is he awake?" Max suddenly inquired.

May sighed, exasperated at the constant asking of whether he was awake, though she had said it about 10 times already. "YES! The kid's freaking awake! Now come on!" She suddenly sprinted back to where she had came from. Ash and Max followed after her.

Brock, however, quickly ran back to the campfire, and grabbed the three soup bowls that were standing beside the flames. He sighed, relieved that a wild Pokémon didn't try to get a free meal, and ran off after the others.

------

May ran through the pathway that led to the secluded area that Steele was resting in. She looked behind him, and saw that the others were a little bit behind her. She shrugged and kept running.

After a few minutes, she arrived at her destination. She sighed, and stopped running after seeing Steele. He was still sitting in the sleeping bag, head laid back against his backpack.

She saw the others follow as well and enter the area. She walked over to where Steele was, and noticed that his eyes were closed. She rolled her eyes and poked his forehead twice.

The boy's eyes opened up, and acknowledged May's presence. Steele rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Welcome back." He said.

"Thanks." Before she could say anymore, she heard exclamations coming from her friends.

"You're awake!"

"He's alive!"

"I'm still hungry!"

The three boys suddenly surrounded Steele, who blinked at the sudden surprise. May giggled. "Steele, these are my friends. Ash, Brock, and my dimwit brother Max." She pointed to each of her friends in that order.

"Hey!"

Ash blinked. "Steele?" he wondered.

The boy rolled his eyes. "That would be me. Steele Cratos is the name." He smiled. "I guess you guys are my saviours." His eyes widened. "Oh crap. Where's Flareon?"

Brock spoke. "Don't worry. He's with Pikachu."

Steele blinked. "Pikachu?"

Ash nodded. "My Pikachu. My best friend Pikachu." He added.

Steele nodded. "I see." He changed the topic. "So anyways, what happened? How did you guys find me?"

May kept her gaze straight on Ash through the time that the boys were talking about the day's events. She stared at his raven black hair, as his hat got stolen by Pikachu when he decided to talk to Flareon about random stuff. It was permanently messy, something that even he couldn't control, no matter what shampoo he tried to use. It didn't really matter to May. She always liked it that way. If he had changed it, she could sneak up behind him and mess it back up again.

His eyes were another thing that she noticed. Those deep brown eyes. They seemed almost black at first glance. _They loo__k __like Steele's, though __I __doubt that the__y __would notice._

"You know guys...you two seem to have similar eye colours." Brock suddenly said.

"You're right!" Max added.

_Scratch that thought. _She sighed, and stared at Ash more. She felt her eyes get heavy, but resisted the thought of sleep. Her eyes started to close, despite her trying to resist. They suddenly slammed down, and closed.

------

"May?"

The Pokémon Coordinator suddenly opened her eyes, and got a really big surprise.

She was sitting on the edge of a cliff against the sea. The moon was out, right in front of her, neither setting nor rising. It was so _big_! She could see the craters and everything! It was really romantic. If only...

"May." A voice said beside her.

May looked beside her, and her eyes widened at who was there.

"Ash..."

The Trainer smiled. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I am now." She smiled back at the boy. She pointed at the scenery that was in front of her. "Isn't it beautiful? Look at that!"

Ash looked at where she was pointing, and nodded. "It is beautiful. But I can think of something better than this."

May raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh really? And what's that?" She blushed as Ash poked her in the chest as an answer. Her blush deepened even further as Ash started to wrap an arm around her as they watched the sea and the moon.

May's eyes drifted over from the beautiful scene in front of her to Ash, who was still looking at the moon. It was like he was waiting for something...

That's when he laughed for a moment, and pointed to the sea. "Look!" He grinned.

May looked at where he was pointing, towards the sea. She saw multiple heart shaped things floating along the water. She blinked and looked at Ash. "What are they?"

Ash pulled out his PokeDex, and let it answer that question. He pointed the scanner light towards a certain heart that was floating closer to the cliff face. After a moment, the machine started speaking.

"Luvdisc, The Rendezvous Pokémon. It lives in warm seas. It is said that a couple finding this Pokémon will be blessed with eternal love. There is a custom from long ago of giving a Luvdisc as a gift to express one's feelings of love. Luvdisc live in shallow seas in the tropics. This heart-shaped Pokémon earned its name by swimming after loving couples it spotted in the ocean's waves."

May's eyes widened. "So that means..." She trailed off, facing Ash. The boy faced her as well, and looked sure of what he was about to do.

Their faces moved closer and closer to each other. May tilted her head to the left to prevent their noses from hitting each other, closing her eyes. Ash closed his eyes as well, and they kissed.


	7. The Player And The Rival

**Thanks for all the reviews guys! Sorry about the delay; a few things came up and were attended to. **

**LuciferIX: My dad's a doctor, so he educated me on all sorts of medicinal drugs and other medical stuff when I was younger, includingacetylsalicylic acid ****. I kinda grew up with it, and it got stuck in my head. Plus I'm striving to be a doctor as well, so that sort of explains things by itself. **

**The Advancer: I will be moving this fic to Serebii when I get the chance. And it's alright that you mixed me up with someone else; I get it alot anyways. **

**Zeaeevee: Yeah, only reason why I didn't write it in italics is because I wanted you guys to figure that it was a dream for yourself. **

**Alright, we're getting close to my plotline! Chapter 9 will signal the actual story being started off, so stay tuned!**

**And let the games begin!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Player and the Rival**

"May?" Steele looked at the girl, who had apparently fallen asleep right in front of them. She was still sitting cross-legged, but was resting her head on her hand, and had apparently fallen asleep.

"May?" He repeated. He went up to her, and waved a hand in front of her face. "She's out cold. I didn't think I was THAT boring." He laughed.

Ash laughed as well with Steele. "Anyways, should we wake her up?"

Max spoke up. "Leave that to me." He grinned evilly as he went up to his sister. He grabbed May's right earlobe with his thumb and index finger, and whispered in her ear some incomprehensible words. After he said the last word, he tugged sharply on the earlobe.

"YEOW!" May bolted awake, and tumbled flat on her back, rubbing her earlobe tenderly. "Max! You little-"

"Easy there May! You just fell asleep." Steele interjected before she could start cursing like a sailor at her brother. At least, that's what he thought what would happen.

"We couldn't wake you up, so we got Max to do it." Ash added. "I personally would have let you sleep." He glared at Max and Steele for a moment, before turning back to May. Now she had a blank look on her face.

"I was having the most wonderful dream..." she whispered listlessly. She wasn't apparently listening to what the boys were saying, her mind still 'trapped' in the dream state. She stared at her friends blankly as she talked.

Steele and Ash exchanged glances. Ash raised an eyebrow, and looked back at May. "Is she alright?"

Brock blinked as well, not that you could tell. He kneeled down to May's level, and waved his hand in front of her face. No response.

Max blinked as he saw his sister. "Wow. The ear pulling usually works. I think I'm slipping." He looked at his hands, and started rubbing them together randomly.

"Is she narcoleptic?" Steele asked. Brock shook his head, and continued his examination. Afterwards, he shook his head.

"Yep. She's out of it." He concluded. He looked at Ash and Steele. "What do we do?"

"I say leave her, wait until she's out of it." Ash said. Steele, however, shook his head.

"Nonono. We need to get some sleep. All of us, me most of all. How about Pokémon?" He suggested.

Ash shrugged. "Could work. But I don't know where Pikachu and Flareon are." He looked at the ground, voice getting softer.

Steele looked around the area for a moment, and raised an eyebrow. "Well I have a way to call Flareon." He said as he reached for his backpack.

He unzipped the biggest pocket, and stuffed his hand inside. He searched around for a moment before pulling out a small, box-like object; around 24 in. by 24 in, with a few dials and plugs on the front of it, and a speaker like thing under the dials. He then pulled out another small rectangular box and placed it beside the box. It seemed like a normal black box, except there was an outlet on the top of it, and a switch that indicated some purpose or another, and an LED light that was off, it seemed. There was also a cord that was connected to the square box, and ended in the plug shape. Steele connected the plug and outlet together. He flipped a switch on the rectangular box, and flipped another switch on the square box. Once he did that, a whirring sound was heard, and a blue light went on the black box. He also pulled out a cord, and plugged it into the plug on the black 'boombox' that said INPUT on top of it.

Brock looked at Steele as he set up. "What is that?" He pointed to the black box.

Steele glanced at him. "An amplifier. I need it to amplify the sound of my guitar so Flareon hears it."

He then pulled out the guitar that was stored in the big pocket of the backpack by the neck. It was still stored inside another black case, but it was thin, and soft-covered. He unzipped the bag, and let it drop onto the ground.

"Ahh. You gotta love Epiphone Les Pauls, eh?" Steele remarked, as he took out his guitar.

The body was black; ebony black to be precise. It had 4 knobs on the bottom left from where Ash was sitting from when he saw it, obviously for tone and volume controls, though Ash wasn't very educated on the parts of a guitar. In fact, this was the first time that he saw one up close. It obviously had the neck and fingerboard, and the head of the guitar was touched up with gold plated knobs, which added to the dazzling effect. The pickups and bridge were also gold, and the pick guard was a cream coloured, which coordinated with the shiny gold.

Steele found an old tree stump close to their position, and sat down on it. He looked at Ash, and saw him staring at it like it was roasted chicken. He rolled his eyes when he also noticed Brock staring at it as well. He looked towards May, and still saw that she was out in her spaced-out mode. He shook his head and took the proper stance, placing the curvature of the body on his right thigh. His left hand moved naturally to the end of the guitar. He paused for a moment, before facepalming.

"Drat. I forgot."

He rose from his spot, and dug around his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a curved, triangular sort of object. He looked at the boys. "Pick." He said simply. He sat back down, and flipped the switch that was at the top part of where the curve was on the top of the body towards him to amplify towards the pickup that was closest to the neck. He took the other end of the cord that was plugged into INPUT, and stuck in the jack that was on the guitar. He suddenly heard a few sounds coming from the amp, or rather from the guitar, as Steele had accidentally plucked a few strings with his left hand while he was working; a sign that the amp was working fine.

"There we go. I was hoping that a few of the batteries worked." He commented.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "What batteries?"

Steele looked at him. "This box here," he tapped at the rectangular box that was beside the amp. "It's a power generator, that operates on twelce 500 MaH rechargeable batteries." He explained. "What, did you think that I powered this amp with magic?" He laughed.

Ash smiled as well, although it was a little bitter due to his remark. He let it slide for now. His sight drifted towards May again, who was still in her dream state. He blinked. "I wonder if your playing will wake her up?"

Steele looked at Ash, and then back to May. "We'll find out soon enough." Steele moved his pick around to the proper position, and put his left hand fingers into a sort of arcing position at the farthest end of the neck, and he strummed all six strings. What resulted was a hard, yet clean sound that echoed through the area.

Nobody moved. It was deathly silent, and it seemed as if everyone was waiting for something. Max was waiting for May to wake up, Brock was waiting for the Pokémon to come, and Ash was waiting for Steele to do a wicked mad solo with his guitar.

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap

------

Meanwhile, in another part of the area, Pikachu and Flareon were exploring. Well, Pikachu was exploring freely. Flareon, however, was a really big drag for him.

_Come ooooooon! We should get back to the campsite! _Flareon complained. He could have gone by himself, but Pikachu was unfamiliar with the area, and would most likely get lost within 5 minutes of solitude.

_Aw come on Flareon! 5 more minutes! _Pikachu responded, facing him. He held up 5 fingers to signify how many minutes were left.

_That's what you said 5 minutes ago!_ Flareon retorted. _Gah, I give up! I'm going back. _He started to turn around , when he paused, ears perked up.

Pikachu looked at him skeptically. He tilted his head to the left in confusion, until he heard something as well. His ears perked up, and he listened.

_What was that? _He asked the fire Pokémon.

Flareon glanced at him. _It's music. Cortelian Major, to be precise. __But only..._ His eyes widened, and he quickly dashed off towards the campsite immediately, leaving Pikachu in the blue.

_What the... HEY! GET BACK HERE! _Pikachu screamed as he chased after Flareon.

It was a long chase, as they were pretty far off from camp, but the two Pokémon were quadrupeds, so they were fast runners. Pikachu nearly caught up with Flareon for a second, but then a tree had the really retarded thought of tripping the Pokémon while they ran as a joke. Flareon just jumped over each obstacle that got in his way, but Pikachu was stopped and slowed down by each obstacle that the trees tried to throw at him, which really sucked.

After about 10 minutes of pain, taunting, cursing and running, Pikachu finally caught up with Flareon, and found that the two were back at the campsite. NOW that music was really audiable. Too audiable, in fact.

Pikachu clutched his ears in annoyance at the music. _Sounds like someone died and make a monkey out of it. _He complained.

He looked at Flareon, who was apparently enjoying the revolting sounds. His head swayed left and right slowly to the beat, and he suddenly sprinted off once again. Pikachu slapped his forehead and followed after him. He was too tired for this crap, so he might as well go find Ash and get to sleep. It was already late enough as it is.

By the time the two Pokémon reached the humans, Pikachu had gone from quadruped to biped, walking on his two feet, totally exhausted. He finally reached the clearing where the boy that they had found was recovering at. As he stepped into the area, his eyes rested at Ash. Pikachu sighed with relief, and quickly ran over to his best friend. However, he noticed that Flareon was already at his master's side, who was... awake?

_Hes awake? __About time._Pikachu thought to himself. He went over to Ash's side, and tugged at his sleeve, so that Ash acknowledged his presence.

Ash did acknowledge his presence, as he turned his head and saw Pikachu staring him right in the face. He heard him say a few words really fast and in a tone that indicated that he was excited, but he still wasn't very fluent in human languages, and the speed at which the words came out didn't help him to understand. All he could decipher from him was: "Glad...back...Pikachu. Boy...wake...got...along...May...sleep...call...you...gu...tar...can...wake...May...please."

As soon as he heard 'wake May', he nodded, and ran over to the girl. Pikachu blinked as he saw her sleeping while sitting at the same time, with her head resting on her hand. He blinked, and looked back at Ash with a skeptical expression on his face before turning back to May. He sighed, and gave May a silent apology.

-------

Meanwhile, high above the trees, a lone figure watched the group attentively, noting the different aspects of their personalities. He knew 4 of these people; the fifth, he had never seen before in his life, but gave him the chills nonetheless.

His eyes rested upon the girl, who had apparently fallen into a narcoleptic state of sleep. His mouth tightened into a grimace as memories started to flow into his mind about the many encounters that he had with her. The battles, the taunting, the...

The roses...

He closed his eyes, and thought for a moment.

"In the morning, I'll pay these guys a little...visit." He said quietly to himself. "May will be mine."

And with that, he silently dropped from the trees, and ran into the woods.


	8. An Unexpected Encounter

**I severely apologize for the delay of the posting of this chapter. I hit a major writers block about a week back, and I had trouble thinking up of ideas to finish it up. I managed to break down that block during this weekend, but I broke it down a bit too well, and I couldn't stop writing up ideas and such. Eventually the chapter had to be broken up into Chapters 8 and 9, so expect 9 to be up later this week.  
**

**I've also caught a bit of a flu, so bear with me if the chapter sucks. Plus I've also been hit with plot bunnies for a fanfic for a totally different show to this, which I'm thinking of putting up here. Well, first I gotta write up the first chapter, but you get the idea.**

** And there's also another issue concerning school. I have 3 major tests this week, so don't expect anything up to the weekend, when March Break really begins.   
**

**But enough complaining or explanations and such. On with the chapter, and have a happy week!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 8: An Unexpected Encounter**

The next morning rolled by like it was just in 5 minutes. In reality, actually, it rolled around in less than 6 hours.

As always, Brock was the first to get up, but Brock found a new surprise: Steele was up as well. He was sitting in front of the ashes of the previous nights campfire, staring into the by-product of a destructive force. He seemed to be thinking about something, from what the Breeder could tell.

He looked at the PokéNav that was wrapped around his wrist like a wristwatch. It was around 7:30 in the morning. He got up from his sleeping bag and walked over to the mystery trainer.

"Good morning there." He said, breaking the silence that was no doubt hovering over the boy for quite a while.

Steele turned around, and saw him, no doubt. He smiled. "Oh, good morning. I was wondering when someone would get up."

"Well we had a long day and night yesterday. So much had happened." He looked over to the sleeping bodies of his friends. "How's May doing?"

"Fine. She has normal breathing and pulse, no external injuries and her body seemed to have conducted the shock well. Has she been shocked by Pikachu before?" He asked the Breeder.

Brock nodded. "A few times, during the beginning of our journey through Hoenn. It was quite funny actually, but she got as used to it as Ash did when the two first met."

Steele nodded in understanding. Brock got up from his spot and grabbed some sticks. He tossed them into the already burnt out wood to make a new layer. He grabbed his lighter, and started to strike the flint to light the flame.

Only, there WOULD be a flame, if the stupid thing actually worked.

Brock struggled with the lighter for a few minutes, flicking it multiple times with no effect. He grumbled and started to lose his temper with the little device.

As Brock tried to light up a flame, Steele was watching him with amusement. "You know, the thing could be out of fuel." He pointed out. However, Brock didn't hear him; still too busy trying to get a flicker of heat from the lighter.

Steele rolled his eyes, and took out his PokéBall. He lightly tossed it beside him, allowing it to crack open.

Out came his trusted Pokémon: Flareon. Again. With a little red ball floating around its head yet again.

"Ok, seriously. What is with that little thing with the flame going in orbit around your head every time I let you out of that thing? " He asked with a bit of annoyance in his voice. Flareon looked at him skeptically, but didn't do anything with the orbiting flame. Steele sighed. "Just light up the sticks."

Flareon looked at him yet again, but instead just shrugged. The little red ball that was floating around his head suddenly stopped in between the Pokémon's eyes. Steele blinked as he saw Flareon do little tricks with the little fireball, including having it move as he tilted his head, move as he moved his eyes around, etc. He sighed, and grabbed the fireball from Flareon, and tossed it into the pile of sticks.

The wood instantly caught fire in seconds, which caught Brock's attention from his struggle with the lighter. He sighed with defeat at lighting the fire, and tossed the lighter into the bushes.

However, what happened next was a surprise for the both of them.

"Ow! Don't throws t'ings at- MMMMPHMM!!!" The voice suddenly was muffled and went silent after that outburst.

Brock blinked, and Steele turned around sharply. He quickly rose to his feet and walked beside Brock, Flareon following the two. Steele tilted his head towards Brock a bit, and whispered. "What the hell was that?"

Brock pointed to the bushes, as he was reaching for his PokéBall. Steele nodded, and glanced at Flareon, who returned the expression. He nodded, and Flareon grinned mischievously.

-------

Meanwhile, a few miles off in Lilycove City, Team Magma was on high alert. Grunts were all over the place, though not out in the open like in the game. They still had to pay attention to the local police force. And not in that way, despite the hotness of Officer Jenny.

However, one of the grunts that was close to the gate that led out of the city towards the Safari Zone grabbed his walkie-talkie. He sighed, beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. He really didn't want to report this, but he had to nonetheless.

"This is Magma Othello, Pass 1189." He said. "Patch me through to the commander."

After a few moments, some static started to crackle, and a deep, baritone-like voice started to speak. "Yes?"

"Hey there boss. Uhm...I kind of...lost the kid." He heard the slap of something coming down onto something hard.

"What?! Are you messing with me?" the voice sighed deeply. "Fine. Take 3 grunts from your surrounding area, and track him. You do know where he was going, right?"

This, he knew. The grunt nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good. Then do it." The grunt heard the sound of crackling static, then silence.

He put his fingers to a knob on the device, and started to turn it, finding another frequency. He spoke into the device once again. "Grunt 12 and 23 report to the entrance. Now."

-------

"AHH THE PAIN!"

"Jessie get out of my pants!"

"I would if Meowth didn't get my hand caught in it!"

"Oy! Too much info there Jess!"

Brock and Steele sweatdropped at the terrible trio's squabble. But it still was hilarious when Flareon torched the bush where the three were hiding in.

"Enough!" Brock shouted, his voice grabbing the trio's attention. Arms crossed, he spoke. "What the hell are you doing here, why are you here, and why did you hide in this fake bush?"

Jessie growled. "HEY! That bush took hours to make! And besides, it fooled you!" She pointed an accusing finger at the two trainers, while James added quietly, "until Meowth had to yell."

Steele rolled his eyes. "Regardless, you shouldn't be stalking other people around. Just makes you look like a pedophile and just absolute idiots."

Jessie and James blinked twice, and looked back at Brock. "And he is?"

"The guy who'll kick your ass if you don't leave." Steele retorted, brandishing a second Pokeball. Meowth suddenly sprang up and slapped the ball out of the boy's hand.

"Now waits a minutes! We'se gots to do the motto firsts!" Meowth scolded. He glanced back at Jessie and James, who nodded.

"To Protect the world from devastation!" Jessie announced, pointing to the sky. Steele followed her finger, and only saw a cloud that looked ridiculously like boxer shorts.

"To unite all people's within our nation." James added, holding a rose in his hand, and going up beside Jessie.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"Daniel- I mean James!" The Team Rocket member stuttered, laughing sheepishly before receiving a jab in the gut.

"Team Rocket, blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

Steele raised an eyebrow at the trio's motto, and felt a small smile creep up onto his lips. He started to chuckle, which suddenly erupted into a full-blown laughing fit.

As the boy was laughing, Jessie and James looked curiously at the boy, who had doubled over in laughter. Jessie suddenly got hit with what the boy was intending, and her eye twitched. "Hey! Stop laughing!"

Steele managed to compose himself, and, still giggling a little, managed to stand back up. He regained his composure and said, "Wow. Just, wow. You guys are complete douchebags."

"Excuse me?!" Jessie snapped.

"Well for one, you guys are in the wrong area. Hoenn's property of Team Magma and Aqua, not Team Rocket. Secondly, isn't Team Rocket's reach only extending towards Johto and Kanto?" he asked rhetorically. "And thirdly, that motto is really dumb. I'm sorry to say, but why do you even bother? And what's with that rose?" he pointed to the red rose that James had in his hands, pressed into his chest. James fidgeted with it for a moment before tossing it away.

"That's besides the point. What are you guys doing here?" Brock interrupted before Steele could continue.

Jessie sighed, and turned to Brock. "If you _must _know, we're here for the obvious reason." Brock nodded in understanding.

Steele however, was a bit confused. "What obvious reason? New here, remember?" He waved an arm while asking Brock. The 18 year old turned to him.

"Oh, they're just here to kidnap Pikachu."

"Which won't happen today!" A new voice called out.

Steele and Brock blinked, and turned around. And there he was: Ash was up and at em, with Pikachu at his shoulder. The yellow mouse lunged at the Rockets from Ash's shoulder, and gave a HUGE thundershock at the trio, shocking them right down to their boots.

As the electricity conducted through their bodies, they suddenly exploded, the blast sending them a thousand feet in the air. The three made one last cry before disappearing. "Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

Steele just plain gaped. "How... that... that just defies every single physics law in existence!" He exclaimed, pointing to the sky where Team Rocket was careening towards. "That is just plain freaky."

Ash shrugged. "You get used to it after a bit. Plus it means that they won't bother us for a few more days." He petted Pikachu's head as he spoke.

However, Steele still wasn't very convinced. "And another thing, when did you wake up?" He pointed questioningly at Ash.

"oh, I was awake for a while, but I was just too lazy to actually get up. Then I heard Team Rocket's motto and jumped to action." He explained.

Steele shrugged, letting his doubts go for the while. He looked back at the campsite, and still found May and Max sleeping. "Shouldn't we wake them up?"

Brock nodded. "I guess so. But who's going to do it?"

All eyes turned towards Ash, including Pikachu. The Pokémon Trainer blinked, and raised his hands in defence. "Oh no. Nononono! I'm not doing it."

"It's unanimous kid. You gotta do it." Steele said.

"Pikachu!" the Pokémon added, nodding happily.

Ash opened his mouth, about to retort, but he accepted defeat and closed it. "Fine. But you guys owe me!" He said.

Hesitantly, Ash walked over to where May's sleeping bag was, obviously with the Pokémon coordinator in it. He looked over to May's face, taking note that she was still sleeping.

Taking a deep sigh, he took a finger, and poked her in the cheek.

Nothing happened, which was a relief for Ash. But then something happened that he didn't expect.

May's eyes opened, slowly, but surely. They seemed blank, which was always natural for when people woke up. Gradually, they adjusted and the fogginess went away. They blinked a few times, and said blue eyes looked over to Ash, whose heart had stopped beating in pure nervousness as to what was going to happen next. And lemme tell you, what happened next is a doozy.

May pulled out her arms from under the sleeping bag, and wrapped them around Ash's neck, pulling him down to May's level. Ash grunted as his chest hit the ground. "What the?" He didn't have time to actually finish that sentence, for May, for reasons that the author cannot disclose due to major pain that would be imminent if the author did reveal them, pulled his face towards hers, placing him into a lip-lock.

Steele, Brock and Pikachu all gaped. "Wow. I did not expect that." Steele commented as he saw the scene unfold before him.

"Same. Here." Brock said slowly.

"Pikachuuuu..." The Pokémon added.

There was silence for a full 2 minutes, before Brock spoke up. "Shouldn't we break them up?"

Steele shook his head. "Nah. Leave them alone. Plus I think he's been waiting for it for a while." When Brock raised an eyebrow at him, he sighed. "Don't give me that look. I know you've been thinking bout it as well."

Brock shrugged, and looked back at the couple. He started to feel a little uncomfortable, and quickly said, "Well, I guess I should go pack up." He walked towards the burnt out fire and started to place all the essentials into his backpack.

Steele still watched the two, who had been kissing for over 5 minutes now. He rubbed his chin as circumstances changed. _At first it was sweet, now it's just getting really odd. I guess they've had enough now._ With that thought, Steele nodded to himself, and started to walk over to the two.

However, he didn't get the chance to actually do something about Ash and May, for he suddenly heard a really loud, definitely familiar sound from the youngest member of their group. "EEEEEWWWWWWW! OH DEAR LORD MY VIRGIN EYES!" Max cried as he saw his sister and one of his best friends kiss. He covered his eyes and ran over to Steele. He tugged on his pant leg. "Make them stop! Make them stop!" he cried.

Actually, Steele didn't really have to do anything, for Pikachu had already gotten sick of what was still going on between Ash and May. Therefore, he went straight up to his master and best friend, and gave the duo a HUGE electric shock, which zapped them straight back to reality.

"GAH! Pikachu!" Ash snapped as he recovered from the shock. May shook a bit, and tendrils of electricity leaped up from forearm to hand, but she merely said nothing, a bit too embarrassed by her actions Steele snickered a bit, and waved. "Welcome back. Now get up and get ready you two. We're close to Fortree City. After that, it's LilyCove and then EverGrande City!" Steele cheered, and left to grab his things.


	9. True Colours

**Not much to say here, but this is a LONG as heck chapter. And it's March Break! HORRAY!**

** Enjoy! ****  
**

* * *

**Chapter 9: True Colours**

A few hours later, the group had arrived into Fortree city, a place where everything was in the treetops, except for the Pokémon Center and the Mart.

Everyone gaped as they saw the many treehouses that made the homes of the inhabitants. "Look at all this! This is amazing!" May exclaimed.

"I know! How the heck did they do all this?" Ash asked rhetorically. Brock shrugged, however, and said, "Beats me. Come on, we should go to the Pokémon Center."

Ash nodded, and headed over to the red roofed building, with the others trailing behind him. He actually had the decency to wait for his friends before entering as a group.

The four went up to the counter, where an always familiar Pokémon Nurse stepped out and introduced herself. A large, pink round Pokémon stepped out behind Joy. She had a plain looking smile on her face. On top of her round, egg shaped body was a small nurse, who wore the same apron as Joy.

"Welcome to Fortree City!" The Nurse said.

"Chansey!" The Pokémon chirped happily.

Ash smiled. "Hello there Joy. We're going to go with the usual healing measure." He said, placing all his Pokeballs on the counter in front of him. May and Brock did the same, and Pikachu jumped up onto the counter.. However, Steele was a bit hesitant.

"What's wrong Steele?" May asked. The boy cringed a bit, and looked at Nurse Joy. "Uhm...no offense, but I'd prefer if I'd do the procedure on my Pokémon myself."

Joy blinked, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Pardon me? I don't really think you should do that. The Pokémon Healing method is a family secret that's only known to the Joys. I don't see how you are able to heal your Pokémon without me." She said.

At this, Steele's eye twitched. "Oh, I apologize for my rudeness." He said calmly. "Very well then. You may do your 'family procedure'." He said with a hint of sarcasm. He placed his Pokeballs onto the counter, after returning Flareon to his ball.

Joy smiled at this, and placed the balls into a really big white tray that had curved out holes that neatly tucked in each ball. After all of them were set into this tray, she gave them to Chansey, who left the room and took them deeper into the Center.

Ash spoke again after the Pokémon disappeared. "We'll also require a few rooms for our stay."

"Alright." Joy turned to the computer that was on the counter. She made a few keystrokes, but frowned soon afterwards. "Well that's not good, now is it?" She muttered. She typed in a few more keystrokes, but got more frustrated. "Grrrr... what's wrong with this thing?"

Steele took particular interest in what Joy was saying, and actually listened in on what the nurse was saying.

Ash blinked, and inquired as to the problem. "What's going on?"

"For some reason, the system isn't responding. It's just giving me this message. I don't know what it means." Joy said, pouting for a bit. "Looks like I'll have to call Rick again."

"Rick?" Max asked.

"Rick's the town's computer technician. He can fix anything that's related to computers. He's amazing. He's always fixed up the system whenever it crashes."

Steele immediately spoke, pushing Ash out of the way so that he was in front. "So the system has crashed before?"

Joy nodded. "Yes. Frequently."

The boy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Can I take a look?"

Joy shrugged. "I guess so. I don't really think you can do much to it."

Thanking the nurse, the boy went behind the counter, and took a look at the monitor, to see what message was popping up. His eyes widened as he saw the monitor. There was a blue screen on the monitor, and had white text that displayed numerous commands and binary code. The only legible words, at least to Joy, were the words, "**The system has detected a fatal command, and has terminated the system to prevent damage" **

He nodded as he finished scanning the screen. "Oh. You just got hit by the Blue Screen of Death. I can fix it." He gave the diagnosis for the problem.

Ash blinked, and turned to his friends. "The Blue Screen of wha?"

"I'll explain later." Steele waved him off, hearing what he said. "Lemme just do this...and then this..." He started typing in commands and keystrokes as he worked with the system. Joy looked over his shoulder curiously as she examined his work, as did Ash and Co. Max gasped in amazement as he saw Steele work. "This guy's a major nerd!" Max cried. He was instantly silenced by May, who covered his mouth with a hand.

"Max! When Steele's done, you ought to apologize!" May said, giving the big sister routine.

Steele, who indeed did hear them, ignored their squabble for the time being. After typing in a few more commands, he pressed the enter button in a dramatic finish, and smiled. "Done!"

Joy and the group 'woahed' in awe as Steele finished. Joy walked over to the comp, and typed in a few keystrokes. She smiled triumphantly. "It does work! Thanks... Steele, was it?"

He nodded, and Joy smiled. "Thanks again! Now lemme see about those rooms." She started to type on the keyboard, as the group walked back to the counter so that they were facing opposite of Joy. A beeping sound was heard, and Joy gave a melancholy expression. "Oh no. I'm sorry children." She said.

Brock, who had already been hit with another swoon of 'love', asked, overdramatically worriedly, "Oh no! What's wrong my love?" He grabbed her hand, and started to kiss it.

Joy withdrew her hand flicked his forehead to get him away, and turned to the rest of the group. "It seems we only have 2 vacant rooms available."

Ash shrugged. "That's alright. 2 of us can sleep in one and 3 in the other."

"They're...Queen sized beds." Joy added.

Steele smirked to himself, and quickly said, "That's alright! Book 'em up to us!" He grinned. Joy raised an eyebrow at Steele's rash action, but shrugged as he did save the system. "Alright." She performed a few more keystrokes.

"Done!"

Ash and May opened their mouths to object, but instantly sighed with defeat. At that, their stomachs instantly grumbled loudly.

"I'm starving." Ash and May said simultaneously. They both blinked, and smiled warmly at each other.

Brock pointed towards a door on the other end of the Center. "The buffet's right over there. Go crazy."

Ash and May grinned, and sprinted off towards the buffet. Max and Brock followed, going even faster, screaming, "Save some for us!"

Joy smiled as the four went to eat, but noticed that Steele was still in her presence. "Aren't you going to eat?" She asked.

Steele shook his head. "No thank you. I'm fine for now." He smiled. "And actually, I need to talk to you about a few things."

"Ok. What's up?" Joy asked, actually happy that someone wanted to converse with her for once.

"It's not too much, since you're pretty busy with your job and all." Steele said. "First off, concerning your computer, I did a bit of digging while I was fixing that BSOD- Blue Screen Of Death. I traced the problem back to its source, and I discovered a few...interesting things."

Joy's interest was peaked. "Oh? And that would be?"

"Your computer's got 44 infections."

Joy's eyes widened. "Holy fucking ass crackers." She gaped. "44! That's alot."

"Yes it is. Problem is, that was found with just a few second scan, so a full system scan might detect more. And another thing, I'm not sure whether the infections are within that specific computer," He pointed to the computer that was behind the counter. "Or in the actual network of Pokémon Center computers." He finished.

"So what do you propose to do?"

"Well, first off, I have to see whether its the computer or the network that's infected. If it's just the computer, I can wipe those infections out in a snap. If it's the network..." He hesitated.

"If it's the network...?" Joy echoed questioningly, encouraging him to finish.

"Then I'm afraid you're going to lose the whole system. 44 infections is alot, and I have no idea how long they've been there. Who knows what sort of damage the system has taken already?" Steele explained, with remorse in his voice. "The system's alright for now, but I recommend you get this 'Rick' over here so he can do his stuff. Then I'm going to work a little magic of my own." He said. "Is that alright?"

Joy nodded. "Definitely. And I bet my sister in LilyCove had been visiting a few...inappropriate sites and let those infections in." She accused under her breath.

Steele raised his eyebrows in surprise, but shrugged it off, not wanting to know about it. "And one more thing: Can you show me where the rooms are? I want to put my stuff away."

Joy nodded, and grabbed a key from the counter, and started to walk down a hallway deeper into a different part of the center, beckoning the trainer to follow.

--------

Meanwhile, Ash and May attacked the buffet like starved dogs. They grabbed at least 6 of everything that was available on that table, whether it was plain bread, or pancakes, or anything else they can get their hands on.

As the two ravaged the food, Brock and Max were busy apologizing to everyone else who was eating or was about to grab something for Ash and May's behaviour. "They're REALLY hungry." They said to the 10 or so people who were there. Raising they eyebrows, they let it go, and immediately walked out into the lounge area.

Once everyone else was gone, Brock looked over at the two teens, who had about 4 plates stuffed with numerous pieces of food, and shook his head sadly. "You guys have bottomless stomachs." He commented.

"Yep!" The two said simultaneously, and walked over to the lounge area. A loud bang was heard across the center as the plates clattered onto the table, and the two started to wolf down their food.

Steele had managed to walk by, and experienced the unpleasant sight of two starving folks eating down their dinner like wolves. "Holy crap. Have you guys actually eaten this past week?" He asked genuinely. He glanced at Brock, who gave a nod. He shook his head sadly. "Shameful."

Ash and May paused eating for a moment. The two glanced at each other, and shrugged. They continued to wolf down their dinner, and Steele facepalmed.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream coming from the desk where Nurse Joy was. The group stopped what they were doing, and looked over to see what the commotion was. "Come on!" Brock had instantly sprung to action and was already halfway there. The others followed quickly, where they saw a scary sight.

A green haired teen, about Ash's age, was panicking madly. He started to scream and babble about that he didn't do anything. Steele went over to said kid, and he grabbed him by the shoulders to stabilize him. "Hey! Get a hold of yourself!" He shook him around for a moment to knock him back into reality. The boy calmed down for a moment, and Steele continued. "What happened?"

"Joy...I gave her my Pokémon to heal up, but after a moment, she just...just..." He made a collapsing motion with his hand. Steele's eyes widened. "She collapsed?" The boy nodded. "Where is she?" He pointed towards the other end of the desk. The boy's eyes narrowed, and he walked over to where the boy was pointing at. He yelped out after a moment. "Brock! Get over here!" he called out to his strong friend.

The Breeder went over to where Steele was, and gasped overdramatically. He went to his knees, and started to melodramatically weep. "Oh! Joy! She was so young! So beautiful! We were going to get married and have a honeymoon in Johto!" He cried overdramatically, as Steele rolled his eyes.

"Brock. She's alright. She just collapsed. Here, lay her down onto the couch over there." Steele said. Brock obliged and gently lay her down onto the nearby couch. Everyone that was present had started to crowd around the unconscious Nurse. Steele looked back at the boy who had reported the incident. "Ok, kid. Tell me everything that happened up to that point. "

The green haired boy nodded. "I came in to heal up my Pokémon. I gave them to Joy, who gave the pokeballs to her Chansey. When I looked back at her, she looked really spaced out. I tried talking to her but she wasn't listening. It was like she was hypnotized. She fell to the ground soon afterwards, and then I panicked. That's when you came in." He explained.

Steele nodded, taking in select information that would be useful to diagnose her condition. He pushed though the crowd to the Nurse. He went up beside her, and gently placed a hand on her forehead. It was slightly warm. "Hmmm..." He pondered to himself.

The rest of the crowd raised an eyebrow as the boy examined Joy. Steele noticed that everyone was seriously starting to make him nervous. "Hey! You guys don't have anything better to do around here? This is official medical work going on here; I'd appreciate it if you just give me some space." He snapped.

Everyone's eyes widened, and stated to disperse, some muttering how rude the kid was, and others admiring his dedication to help someone out, while a few wondered if the kid really DID have any medical training.

Steele placed a hand on Joy's cheek. It was hot. She has a fever. "She's been really sick lately." He commented. He placed a thumb and forefinger onto one of her eyelids, and forcefully opened it. He looked at her pupil, which had sunken in and was extremely small.

Ash had stepped up beside Steele, and was looking down on Joy. "Is she going to be alright?"

Steele nodded. "Yep. I can't really make a diagnosis however until she wakes up. If she's getting double vision and major headaches, then she got a concussion." He said. Ash nodded, understanding. He stared down at the nurse for a few moments. What could have happened that could put her into this state?

That's when it happened. At first, Ash had disregarded it as a trick on his eyes. But when it happened again, his curiosity was starting to peak. It wasn't happening now, so he decided to wait until it happened again.

There it was! A few seconds later, her hand was twitching. Ash reported this to Steele, pointing to the hand. Steele glanced at her, and saw more movement. She was starting to recover. "Good. She's waking up." He said.

Brock heard this, as did May, but she didn't react to the news as much as he did. "Oh! My Joy will be ok! YAY!" He jumped for joy (Lol Pun)

The Nurse opened her eyes, and placed a hand onto her head. Steele sighed with relief. He went beside her, and kneeled down to her level, as she was lying down on a couch. "Nurse Joy. How are you feeling?"

The Pokémon Nurse blinked rapidly for a few moments, most likely to get her eyes focused, and squinted at the person who was speaking to her. "S-Steele?" she said quietly.

The boy nodded. "Yes, it's me. How are you feeling? You took a really nasty fall."

Joy groaned as her head started to pound. "Terrible. My head's throbbing like no tomorrow." She suddenly looked at him oddly, like he had just decided to wear a multi-coloured Mohawk. "Since when did you have a twin?" She wondered.

Steele blinked, surprised. He looked beside him in both directions. There was no one who looked like him nearby. "Uh...Joy? I don't have a twin."

"Yes you do. He's right there." Joy pointed a finger beside the boy. At least, she _tried _to. Her finger instead ended up pointing towards the air conditioner on the other side of the room.

Steele raised an eyebrow at Joy's odd behaviour. "Hmm...major headache, double vision, lack of coordination..." he sat there for a moment, his brain processing and relating the information and comparing them to his list of medical conditions. He nodded after a few moments, and looked at his friends. "I was right. Concussion." He informed them.

Joy blinked. "Concussion? I don't have a- owwww..." she rubbed her temples. "Ok, maybe I do have a concussion..."

Steele nodded. "Nurse, I want you to stay lying down until I can find a way to get you home. Alright?" he informed her. She nodded slowly, and Steele got up to his feet.

Ash and Co. ran over to him, and started to ask him multiple questions at once. "Is she alright?" "What do you mean, get her home?" "Will we be able to get married?" "What will we do about our Pokémon?" They all cried.

Steele raised his hands in defence."Alright already! Ease up on me!" He snapped, successfully getting them to calm down. He continued after they had decided to let him talk. "She'll be fine. It's just a concussion, though she shouldn't be here. Too noisy and too stressful. Chansey can take care of her, and I'll see if I can get another Joy over here or something." He looked at Brock. "And Brock. Don't bother." He said simply.

He was just about to go inform Chansey of the situation, when a really LOUD Joy interrupted him. "Oooooooo! Look at the pretty colours!" the nurse said childishly, grabbing randomly into the air for the supposed 'colours'.

Steele blinked, and turned around, seeing Joy pick at the air like it was candy. Everyone else that was in the Pokémon Center also heard the Nurse, and they all had the same reaction. Heck, one of them even said to their friend, "WTF?"

May went over to the nurse first, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Nurse Joy? Are you alright?"

Joy blinked, and looked at her for a few moments, before burrowing deeper into the couch, pointing at May's face. "woooooooah! Dudette! I've totally, like, seen you before!" she said in a hippie styled voice. May raised an eyebrow at her, and glanced back at her friends. Brock was instantly beside her in a second.

"Joy? Are you feeling alright?" the Breeder asked the nurse, taking a shot at what was going on.

"Of course I'm alright silly!" Joy suddenly looked at Brock as if he was the hottest thing she had ever seen. She made a small swoon and suddenly grabbed hold of the 18 year old, pulling him down beside her. "Oooh. You're hot. I like that in a guy." She started to 'check' him out, which weirded Brock out more than when his Vulpix started to do random things with a log that time in Johto. And that was EXTREMELY weird.

May was obviously surprised at the Nurse's odd behaviour, and didn't want anything to progress further with Brock and her. Therefore, she went right up in between the two, pushed Brock straight off the couch, him landing with a resonant THUD, and flicked Joy right in between the eyes, and dragged the boy away.

"Ok, there is seriously something wrong with Joy." May concluded, after tossing Brock to the ground. Max was right beside him in an instant, ready to restrain him if he attempted to get to the 'lovely' Joy once again.

Ash blinked at May's reaction to the situation, but quickly disregarded it. He turned to Steele, the one who actually knew what was going on. "What's up with Nurse Joy? She hit her head too hard or something?" he wondered, half-joking.

"I think so..." Steele replied, seriously instead of jokingly. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and scanned his brain for different conditions that may result from this.

Joy had gone silent, unmoving after Brock was tugged away from her. She was lying face up, body up, with a cushion resting under her head. Steele went up to her yet again, and examined her once again in the same style as before, checking her pupils, pulse and breathing, etc, etc. "She fell unconscious again. Odd..." r

Ash and May glanced at each other worriedly. This can't be good.

Steele looked back at the unconscious nurse, and noticed something new. Her arms had tensed up, looking slightly shorter and flexed out a bit more than usual. The junior doctor raised an eyebrow at this, and noticed the same tension on every part of her body. "What the..." he wondered.

He didn't really have time to finish that sentence, for Joy had started to seriously go nuts, in a figurative sense. Her arms and legs started to shake violently, the muscles contracting and relaxing sharply and rapidly. From the outside, Joy had started to go into convulsions. She was shaking violently and madly. Steele's eyes widened. "Oh no..."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUN! HA! Didn't expect that, did you?**

**Next chapter will be up soon! **


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